tten. And yet it was the
faithful, persistent, honest work done for the little brown Moro people
which helped to make the present occasion possible.

In the evening of that day (June 13th) American Ambassador Sharp gave a
dinner in honor of the coming of General Pershing. At this dinner the
chief officers of the French army and navy were present. Indeed in the
brief time before General Pershing was to assume his active duties it
almost seemed as if the desire of the French Government and the French
people to do honor to the American commander would test his powers of
endurance to the uttermost. There were several events, however, that
stand out in the foreground of those remarkable days.

FOOTNOTE:

[C] See Chapter I.

CHAPTER XIII

AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON

ONE of these notable events was the visit of General Pershing to the
Hotel des Invalides in which is the tomb of the most brilliant soldier
of all history--Napoleon Bonaparte. General Galterre and General Niox,
the latter in charge of the famous monument, received the American
General and his staff when they arrived at the marvelous building.

An interesting incident that was reported as having occurred directly
after the entrance of the party was the spontaneous action of General
Pershing, when his party met some of the aged veterans of the former
wars of the French. Impulsively stopping when he was saluted by a bent
and aged soldier who had seen service in the Crimean War, General
Pershing shook the old soldier by his hand as he said, "It is a great
honor for a young soldier like myself to press the hand of an old
soldier like yourself who has seen such glorious service." This natural
and impulsive action by the American is said to have deeply touched not
only the Crimean veteran, but also all who saw it and even more those
who later heard of it, for the simple act was soon a topic of
conversation among the already deeply enthused people of Paris.

The American soldiers were conducted first to the great rotunda where
one can stand, and, looking down, see the tomb of Napoleon resting in
eloquent silence in the sarcophagus beneath. But the Commander of the
American Expeditionary forces was to have a still more distinctive
honor--he was to be taken into the crypt itself. How much of an honor
the French consider this may be judged from the fact that in addition to
the crowned heads of Europe that had been admitted there, Ex-President
Theodore Roosevel